Under The Mistletoe

Happy Hollowdays

by Shawn Bailey

Best friends Henry and Alan Grayling and Triston Lee decide to play a trick on Henry’s uptight younger brother Morgan, by having Triston kiss Morgan under the mistletoe at the yearly Christmas party. But the joke is on them when Morgan demands that Triston marry him and make an honest man out of him.

Triston has always been in love with Morgan, but Triston never wanted to ruin the friendship he had with Henry by putting the moves on the man’s brother. Triston never blinked when Morgan went away to college for four years, but now that he was back, all Triston wanted to do was get to know him better. Yet, he still hadn’t been prepared for Morgan to lay a heavy guilt trip on him just because he gave him a friendly peck on the lips.

So what if a couple of other drunken employees saw them kiss? Triston didn’t think any of them would remember the next day, and it certainly was a stupid reason for them to get married!

Genres: Holiday

41 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 5, 2016

About the author

Shawn Bailey hails from New Orleans, LA, where she works as a programmer and help desk administrator. Shawn loves mangas and anime. Her current hobbies are watching Japanese and Korean dramas, when she has the spare time. She’s also trying to learn to speak and read both Japanese and Korean. She’s also into Korean pop music and can often be found with her MP3 player attached to her head. Shawn is single and enjoying the heck out it.

Reviews

[Nerea · Rating 1 out of 5]

One word: OVERREACTION !
One of the Mc kiss the other one under the mistletoe ... omg but we are in Japan!!! They are so old fashioned! They are going to freak out! We need to marry!!! This is so SErioussssssS! REALLY? aghck

[Serena Yates · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes mistletoe is just what best friends – even when they are somewhat estranged – need to make them realize there may be more to their relationship than friendly feelings. For Morgan and Triston, what starts out as a trick quickly turns into a situation both men have contemplated over the years, but never got around to making happen.

Morgan has just returned to Japan from four years in college in the US, and he is more than shocked when his former crush, Japanese businessman Triston, kisses him in full sight of all the employees at Morgan’s father’s Christmas party. The shock of realizing he still has the hots for Triston even after years away adds to the embarrassment of everyone having watched them. And Morgan has no intention of letting that stand, so he insists on marriage more to make his point than because he is serious.

Triston has been in love with Morgan, but the age difference and the need for Morgan to get a college education first have always stopped him from saying anything. After the epic kiss at the party, Triston realizes that Morgan may have feelings for him too. All he needs to make sure is that Morgan is serious about a relationship rather than trying to punish Triston for a perceived public insult…

If you like stories about men who get together almost by accident, and if you’re looking for a hot read with lots of back and forth between the main characters before they agree on their course of action, then you might enjoy this short story.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dark Hollows Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cultures Collide

I liked the premise of the story.
It was interesting reading about the Japanese culture.
I didn't like the multitude of typos and grammatical errors.

[Dale Hankins · Rating 4 out of 5]

a funny quick little read

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Review An Alisa Review:

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

This was a nice short story, but I felt at times that I was missing something. Triston is in love with his best friend’s brother, but has never told anyone and Morgan has always been attracted to Triston, but kept his secret also. Both of them fight each other in their own ways, but it takes some time for them to see how they could work out.

I got confused by the characters actions in this story, one minute they were compassionate and then snippy and then acting spoiled. It isn’t until the very end of the story that I could see them finally giving way to the other and not holding something back. I had trouble connecting with these characters as it always felt like they were holding something back or there we other things going on in the background that I didn’t know about.

The cover art is nice, setting the Christmas setting with the decorations.

[Wende · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a silly book. Because of pride and miscommunication mayhem comes about after a kiss under the mistletoe. Angst completes this short book and was the cherry on the sundae. It was a quick and was quite good for such a small book. It packed a punch and had a good ending. I loved it.

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars